Better justice through research, education, and grants

Justice Garde is a Reserve Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, capping a long and distinguished career in the law, starting in 1974. Beyond his career as a barrister and on the bench, Justice Garde has been highly influential in many aspects of our justice system.

He is Victoria’s longest serving President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, having held that post for six years and overseeing key reforms to support better access to justice.

He is currently Chair of the Law Library of Victoria Committee and the Supreme Court Library Committee; was a founding member of the Courts Council of Courts Services Victoria, and of the Judicial Commission of Victoria; as well as many other leadership roles. In addition to his work in the law, Justice Garde was a Major General in the Australian Army, serving till 2004 as Assistant Chief of the Defence Force (Reserves) and Head Reserve Policy. He has chaired the Foundation since October 2020.

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Dr Gerry Bean is a partner in DLA Piper’s corporate team. With more than 25 years' experience, he advises on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial transactions, and corporate governance.

Key to his role is advising not-for-profit entities and charities on governance issues. Gerry has been a board member of DLA Piper International and a Council Member of the LIV. Gerry is the Chair of Wallumatta Legal, a start-up charity that aims to provide family law services to disadvantaged people.

He is also an active contributor to DLA Piper’s pro bono program. He is especially interested in projects that make legal information more accessible to the wider community and the Foundation’s support of empirical research, in particular, how it can assist in better understanding community legal needs, identify developing legal issues, and the potential of big data to answer such questions.

Dr Castan is a Professor and Associate Dean (Staffing) in the Law Faculty at Monash University. She has over 25 years’ experience teaching, researching and publishing in Australian Public Law, Constitutional law, Human Rights Law, Indigenous Legal Issues and Legal Education. She is the National Editorial Convenor of the Alternative Law Journal.

She is also Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, and sits on a number of university and faculty committees and she has a number of publications in these areas. Her most recent book is Time to Listen - An Indigenous Voice to Parliament with Professor Lynette Russell (2023, Monash University Press).

Melissa is the Chair of our Research Subgroup providing invaluable support on research methodologies and practice.

Peter Caillard is a barrister with a broad commercial practice. He is also a director of Down Syndrome Victoria and former Director of PILCH (now known as Justice Connect) as well as the Law Institute of Victoria. He served on the Ethics Committee of the Law Institute for a number of years and is regularly invited to lecture on the subject of ethics to law graduates at Leo Cussen. Peter was Chairman of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and Chairman of the School of Hard Knocks and Youth Empowerment Against AIDS and HIV (YEAH).

Prior to becoming a barrister, Peter was a senior executive in a major ASX listed company, which included the operational role of Chief Executive Media and Head of Strategy and International Operations. His academic qualifications include Honours and Masters in Law as well as being a graduate of Harvard Business School and Nanjing Normal University. He is a Fellow of Leadership Victoria; Governance Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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Stephen was formerly a Partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Asia Pacific.

Over more than 26 years in accounting, Stephen provided assurance, financial due diligence and accounting advisory services to a wide range of organisations including listed companies, major multinational corporations, not-for-profit entities and government bodies. In addition to his client-facing roles, he has held several leadership roles within Deloitte Asia Pacific and Australia.

As the Chair of our Audit, Finance and Risk Subgroup, ‍Stephen applies his extensive experience to oversee VLF’s financial process, including investments, audit processes and risk.

Rowan McRae is Executive Director of Legal Practice, Civil Justice, Access and Equity at Victoria Legal Aid, and has had a wide-ranging career in the Australian and international legal sector.

Rowan joined Victoria Legal Aid in 2016 as Program Manager of the Equality Law Program before taking her current role. Previously, she worked at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC, and as associate to former High Court judge, Justice Hayne AC QC.

She has also practised in the private profession and on legal development projects in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Rowan holds a Masters of Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Tania McKenna is the Partnerships and Community Development Manager at Northen Community Legal Centre.

Tania has worked across the legal assistance sector for over 25 years primarily across the community legal and family violence sectors. Her work history has ranged from direct support and advocacy to designing, implementing, and evaluating complex community development projects and sector-wide reforms.